Kawasaki KLR Forum banner

Why does it handle like a shopping cart?

8K views 25 replies 15 participants last post by  nakedbeans 
#1 ·
Greetings,

I bought a used '05 KLR in December. I've put 3 or 4 thousand miles on it, and find it to be, in some respects, one of the worst bike I've ever ridden. On the freeway with cross winds in excess of 20-25 mph, it is very nearly impossible to keep in a single lane. On the freeway at speeds over 65 mph, the wake from other vehicles induces extremely unsettling head shakes. After some suspension adjustments, it is better, but still handles like a shopping cart on the freeway. However, it is much more managable at speed on open two lane roads. It is a freaking blast on tight roads with bad pavement. I think some of my handling problems may relate to that sail that Kawasaki calls a front fender.

Any advice?
 
#2 ·
Wind and the KLR don't get along very well. The front fender has had several things done to it in hopes of improvement by several people. )it has been lowered, cut down, holes drilled in it,and some have even changed it. Everyone has said their mods did help, but mine is still stock and I just battle the wind on the big roads. I do try to avoid the big roads as much as possible.
 
#3 ·
KLR+Big Roads = no no
If you have too, just be careful. I got enough weight to hold the front end down, but I still get the pucker factor with semi's in front, back or beside with the wind wash.
 
#4 ·
Carson City is the windiest place in the country. Since I bought my '08 klr a month ago I've had to face winds and gusts up to 50 mph. So far, although it gets old, I don't think I've been pushed more than a couple feet of my line of travel. It could be a hefty ticket here, but, if you could try a stretch of road in the wind without the fender you would know if it is the cause.
 
#5 ·
Yep, the KLR was never designed or intended for interstates.

It's not just one feature causing the overall problem. Handguards have to go, windshield isn't appropriate, fairing is hardly aerodynamic for high speed, and the fender is way to flimsy.

There are lots of posts about how to make the KLR an interstate bike, especially on that other net site. It would serve you well to do some research because you won't get all the solutions in one post.
 
#6 ·
An awful lot of it comes down to the skill of the rider, too. If you are in a crosswind and you tighten up your grip and tense your forearms, the bike will react more severely.

I make sure my grip is loose and my upper body is loose, and let the bars turn naturally. It automagically countersteers itself to compensate for the wind. The same technique worked really well on my Honda XR650L, another tall (even taller and a little lighter than the KLR) DP bike.

If you fight it, you'll only make it worse.
 
#7 ·
If you fight it, you'll only make it worse.
Yep, well said.

Another thing that new riders need to keep in mind is that a motorcycle wants to go straight if you just let it do it's thing. The most basic physics of a motorcycle is it's gyroscopic force that keeps the bike upright. New riders tend to feel it's their duty to keep the bike up, but a rider is just a nuisance to the bike and really shouldn't be doing much to assist it in staying upright.

Offroad is a different matter of course!
 
#11 ·
This is what I did to mine, it has worked great.
I added an Eagle Mike fork brace, an Acerbis fender brace and drilled holes in the fender. I now get almost no wash from other vehicles and cross wind is not that big of a deal any more.

 
#12 ·
what kind of tires are those? they look pretty cool. and that fender brace looks like something one could make themselves fairly easily if need be.

I was actually thinking about adapting a fender from a sportbike to fit, but then comes the issue of mounting and actual size of the wheel and fender, plus fork spacing, etc.
 
#13 ·
The tire is a Kenda.
With what I have done to the fender, I am able to ride behind a semi without the bike wanting to fly.
 
#15 ·
I'm with Paper on this one.

My longest day was 11-12 hrs and 604 miles. I've got highway pegs and a Corbin (my butt would have fallen off if I had the stock seat).

Other then my neck getting sore I didn't have any problems. I just slowed down when it started to rain.

Is it the prefect highway bike? No. But its a sweet bike to take on a road trip and head off on a dirt track if you see something interesting. I wouldn't have any problem doing a couple 500 mile days, but a bunch in a row might be difficult to handle.

That being said.
you might want to check the level of your fork oil. Seems that a lot of the KLR's around here have had a lot less then they needed and filling it to the proper level helped out with the highway wander.

Brian
 
#16 ·
Most people I've encountered who said they have turbulance issues on the freeway, myself included, find a fork brace does add a lot of stability. However, the KLR is tall and is effected far more than a shorter bike by cross winds, turbulance off trucks, and high speed buffeting. I am happy to say that since adding a fork brace, mines a K-9, the bike does I-70 for 60 miles at 70+mph just fine and handles off road better too.
 
#17 ·
Cross winds

I to have had issues with freeway riding relating to cross winds and wash from trucks. I really like the Acerbis fender brace, but have also read about the Acerbis fender made for KTM's (not available in red, however). Any readers have the Acerbis fender? While on the subject for freeway (higher engine speeds), does anyone use handle bars weights to reduce vibration?

thanks,
Cris
 
#18 · (Edited)
I have the genuine KTM version of the Acerbis KTM fender on my KLR. ;-) I changed it for looks, not because I felt the stock fender was a problem, it was just ugly.

I don't have crosswind problems, but then I didn't really have them with the stock fender either. It's all in how you react to the gusty sidewinds.



I have ProTaper SE ATV high bend handlebars and ProGrip gel grips, and at least changing the handlebars seems to have reduced vibrations. But again, keeping a very light grip on the bars does more than any equipment change.
 
#22 ·
I dunno.. I guess.. I did 728 miles last weekend, according to my GPS and I had a blast during every one of those miles.. Saturday I rode 170 miles and didn't go anywhere.. I was just out hunting for gravel roads in Southwestern Wis and Eastern Iowa.. Found a few (OK, lots) too..











 
#21 · (Edited)
Hats off to you guys who have time for those long bike trips. In the mid 70's a buddy and I did 10k miles in two months, haven't been near that since. It would be worse if i didn't have so much fun at work, but it would be nice to spend a week away from it all. Enjoy it while you can.
Jim
edit
weasel, that's a great line (handles like a shopping cart). If there's no copyright infringement I'd be proud to use it in a pertinent KLR discussion.
Similar to "herding a cow down a trail", I think that was in refrence to an old Farmall tractor.
Jim
 
#24 ·
That depends.. Was your mileage on gravel and single track?? Most of my riding last weekend was on gravel and the roads in the photos, and a lot of that had a 30 mph speed limit, and if you look at the bridge photo, it had a 10 mph speed limit.

I've done several 1000 mile days on motorcycles, and have done over 600 in a day on my KLR, stopping only because I arrived at my destination, with none of that on interstate.

I ride several 12 and 24 hour road rallys (Iron Butt Style Rallys) every year, and have done a few on my KLR, too..
 
#25 ·
I've actually done the same basic trip twice. Both times It was a mix of 2-lane, singletrack, unmaintained forest roads, gravel and some 4-lane at the end. In both cases I was wore the F out when I got home.

To me, it's an issue of quality vs quantity. A Vespa can do 1000 miles in a day, but who the hell would want to? A KLR can do any mileage anybody wants to do, the bike isn't the issue. It will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if somebody has the nads to try it. But to say doing 800 miles a day on the KLR is perfectly doable for anyone would be an absolute lie and that's what my point is. Quality mileage on a KLR would be somewhere between 300 and 400 in a day. That's 6-8 hours of riding at 2-lane speeds. Over that and it's getting in to people with higher tolerance levels.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top